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Topic: Tired of searching for great cheese (Read 5848 times)

I need help! I've tried almost every shredded cheese I could find and they are all either tasteless or burn too easily. Recently, I went to a local Restaurant Depot with my brother who lives about 1,000 miles who was at my house for a visit and found the one cheese that made a huge difference in my pizza - it is Supremo Italiano 3 cheese blend pre-shredded 5lb bag for about $12. I think it was a blend of mozzarella, white cheddar and provolone cheeses. It was delish! Unfortunately I don't have a business license to become a member and my brother only visits once per year. I've bought Costco's mozzarella but it was nothing great and the only blend they had was a Mexican blend which I would put on tacos but not pizza. I even got a one day pass to Sam's Club to try the Stella Brand but they didn't carry their 3 cheese blend. I've been to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and to Fairway Market, and every supermarket I could find, but everything I've tried doesn't compare. I am lucky enough to be near E & S Foods which has cash and carry on Fridays. Most of their products including Grande Cheese, have a purchase minimum of like 5 or 6 items in bulk. I certainly don't need 5 or 6 5-pound blocks of mozzarella, unless you can freeze cheese? They do have Sorrento brand 5 pound pre-shredded whole milk mozzarella without a minimum purchase. I though about blending on my own but I don't think the supermarket brands are good enough to waste my time. Should I consider buying the Sorrento brand or are there other resources for my perfect cheese?

Supremo Italiano is one of the house brands of Restaurant Depot. I don't know who actually manufactures that cheese blend, though a 80/10/10 mozzarella/cheddar/provolone shredded blend is produced by quite a few foodservice vendors.

There are several discussions on the 'net, both here and on other forums, that have discussed ways to get into Restaurant Depot. You may want to look them up, and also check your personal messages.

JD is correct!!!! Make friends with your favorite Pizzeria and know in advance what products they use on their pizza. Also, don't try to buy from them when they are at their busiest times. Ask them during their slow times and be sure to tip well, and thank them for selling to you.

Some GFS Marketplace stores carry products that aren't standard Marketplace items, due to unusually high demand for a non-Marketplace item at any particular store. For example, I used to get three-pound containers of Grande fresh mozzarella (half a case) at a store on the northwest side of Columbus, but you won't find that at almost every other store. Similarly, the store I go to most nowadays always has candy buckeyes (dense, round pieces of peanut butter covered not quite fully with chocolate; they look very similar to buckeyes). I'd assume candy buckeyes are only available in Columbus-area stores (or maybe all of Ohio).

If you look at the GFS product guide, all items listed with an "M" beside it are carried at every GFS Marketplace store.

Disclaimer: Don't necessarily believe anything I say here. My brain ain't quite right anymore (unless it is). If I come off as rude or argumentative, that's probably not my intention. Rather, that's just me being honest, to myself and everyone else; partly because I don't have enough time left to BS either you or myself. If you are offended by anything I say, it's probably because you think lying to people (to be "polite") is a good idea. I don't.

Why not just make your own blend? Locally there have been fantastic sales on cheeses lately, Shop-Rite has been featuring a different mozzarella every week for under $2 a pound, and their cheddar was 99 cents for an 8 oz. stick. It's not rocket science, just approxiamate an appropriate blend and shred it up and mix it together. Freshly grated cheese is much better then the pre-shredded you buy in packages, it has no added ingredients to combat clumping. One of my favorite pizza making tools is a Presto salad shotter which is my pizza cheese grater. No need to buy in bulk, or beg, borrow or steal to get into a members only business. Mozzarella, cheddar, mild provolone, fontina/fontinelli and kasseri are staples in my cheese drawer for pizza duty.

it's a kcbs membership benefit. I haven't been for awhile but unless it's changed you just show them your kcbs society card and they write you out a day pass that you give the cashier when checking out